According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, Americans are losing hope about race relations. When President Obama was elected seven years ago, pundits thought it would usher in a new day when it came to race relations. Unfortunately, Obama has presided over a widening of the divide.

50% of Americans now believe that race relations are moving backwards. That’s up 6% from last year at this time. Two years ago, only 30% of Americans thought race relations were getting worse, which shows you how much of an impact the Black Lives Matter movement has had on the cultural psyche. Doubtless, their supporters would count this poll as a victory, which should tell you everything you need to know about their ultimate aims.

There are also interesting answers that you might not expect if you got all of your information from the mainstream media. For instance, 70% of respondents agreed that inner city crime rates were a bigger problem than police bias against minorities.

It would be nice to think that these problems will go away after Obama takes his leave, but that’s a fantasy. A lot of this can be laid at the president’s feet, but a lot of it is just where the socially liberal left is headed right now. The internet has given itself over to this new civil rights moment. 3rd wave feminism, one of the most destructive philosophies ever to infect our culture, is growing in popularity thanks to sites like Jezebel, Salon, and social media exposure. The TV media covered Ferguson and Baltimore with as much bias as any news stories have ever been covered in American history. Truth has been thrown out the window in favor of sensationalism. Would-Be Cop Killer Shot Dead doesn’t sell nearly as many advertisements as Cop Murders College-Bound Kid For No Reason.

The question is what can break through all of the divisive noise? Black leaders who preach a message of hope, responsibility, and individual triumph are roundly denounced as white apologists – shills for the Republican Party. Dr. Ben Carson was a universal icon in the black community until he began speaking out against the liberal forces keeping minorities trapped in poverty. Even before his fall from grace, Bill Cosby was viciously smeared for criticizing the politics of victimization. Obama himself nearly had a mutiny on his hands when he referred to the Baltimore rioters as “thugs”. In the monolithic industry of racial grievance, there’s no room for even the slightest intellectual diversity.

If you’re profiting off racial strife, the strategy is a sound one. If you genuinely want to see us become one nation, indivisible…well, the prospects are depressing.